Holiness - Joel Beeke

HOLINESS IN HISTORY: THE CHURCH'S UNDERSTANDING So rich a theme as holiness has yielded a variety of emphases in church history. For the apostolic church, the essence of holiness was conformity to Christ. Christlike purity was the accented goal. In the patristic church (that is, early Church Fathers), holiness was largely viewed as withdrawal from the contaminations of society.

As the ancient church moved into the medieval era, three major Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox perceptions of holiness evolved: 1. Ascetic. In this tradition, holiness was pursued by forsaking the world literally (e.g., abandoning secular occupation, marriage, worldly goods) and by engaging extensively in prayer vigils, fasting, and selfmortification. (Medieval asceticism is a hardening of the patristic church's emphasis.) Only those who reached this “high level” of holiness were regarded worthy to be reckoned as saints. “Sainthood” was not normative among Christians, but reserved largely for the ascetics. Hence, a double standard evolved: “saintliness” came to be applied only to the “religious” person (i.e., priest, monk, nun), whereas a “lower attainment” of holiness, necessitated by remaining in the world, was tolerated in the “ordinary, secular, or lay” Christian.

The problems with asceticism are many. Briefly, the ascetic forgets that the Christian must remain in the world, but not be of it. Also, he ignores that the major problem with the world is his own heart's worldliness which he brings with him into a monastery setting. Finally, unusual forms of self-denial which serve no worthy purpose in themselves, tend to promote an attitude of salvation by works rather than by grace.

2. Mystical. According to the medieval mystics, holiness was not to be attained so much by fleeing the world as by rising above it. Holiness could be viewed as a ladder with various stages of spiritual absorption into God, such as purgation, illumination, and contemplation.

The danger of this view is twofold: Mysticism tends to lose sight of Scripture as the touchstone for all faith and practice; and it is prone to forget the calling of the Christian to be salt in the earth and light on the hill.

3. Sacramental. This form of holiness was available to all, since sanctification was automatically regarded as being imparted when the mass' wafer was lifted by the priest. Regardless of personal lifestyle, anyone who witnessed this event received, according to Roman Catholicism, an “objective fusion of holiness” without any of the struggle involved in the ascetic and mystical views of holiness. The danger here is obvious: The sacrament is prone to replace the need for the personal, subjective work of the Holy Spirit in the heart of a sinner.

Classical Protestantism (sixteenth century) was largely a movement away from ascetic, mystical, and sacramental views of holiness to a more Biblical perspective.

Luther, for example, successfully tore down the double standard of holiness between “the religious” and “the secular,” the clergy and the laity. All believers are called to holiness in equal measure; hence Luther's emphasis on the “priesthood of all believers.” Holiness must be normative, springing from an inward attitude toward all the affairs of the outside world. Believers must be transformed into godly living by the Word and the Spirit.

While underscoring Luther's emphases, Calvin stressed holiness as a lifestyle of gratitude which reflected self-discipline and obedience to the moral law as the core of biblical ethics (Calvin's view is reflected in our Heidelberg Catechism which places a detailed consideration of the law under the heading of “gratitude”).

This Calvinian emphasis was continued in the seventeenth century by the Scottish Presbyterians, English Puritans, Dutch Second Reformation divines ( Nadere Reformatie ), and German Pietists (though a more significant portion of the latter inclined to unbiblical forms of mysticism). These groups also accented the divine will, personally revealed as “leading of the Spirit,” and the power to fulfil it in Christ's strength, as a hallmark of holiness. In sum, their concept of holiness may be termed as a merging of the disciplinary and experimental elements which flow out of dependency upon the Word and Spirit.

From time to time, perfectionist views of holiness have also surfaced (e.g., Wesley), which generally stress “entire sanctification” by faith through the eradication of sin and the gift of perfect love. The apostle